When it comes to online shopping, Millennials hold all the proverbial cards. They average the highest internet usage every month, and, according to Goldman Sachs, they are the savviest shopping generation in U.S. history with 57% of them comparing prices in store to online product info.

We’ve been talking about 2018, and what we think the big stories are going to be this year. You can read our first post here and our second, with insights and some pretty fantastic wisdom (along with his signature humor) from our VP of Business Development Kenji Gjovig, here.

Last week: we shared our thoughts about the trends and stories that will shape and change retail in 2018. Why stop there? Content Analytics’ VP of Partnerships and Business Development Kenji Gjovig shares his thoughts on the stories and developments that shaped 2017 and what we should all be paying attention to this year.

This week, at least one headline caught your eye: nearly half all online purchases in 2017 will go to Amazon. (Feel free to sit back and process that for a minute.) Stated another way: of the $450-something billion being spent online this year, a study shows that $196.75 billion of that will go directly into the coffers of Amazon. That’s 4% of all U.S. retail.

For those of you who have been following along at home (or, more likely, work), we’ve been talking a lot about the so-called retail apocalypse. Yes, there have been a lot of stores that are failing, and while online retail is a huge contributor, it’s far from the only one. We’ve also pointed out that aggressive and creative brand strategies are necessary for survival.